Phoenix GM McDonough: This year’s Suns are better than last year’s

Through 50 games last season, the Phoenix Suns posted a record of 30-20.

Through 50 games this season, the Suns are 28-22.

Of course, when comparing the teams you cannot solely look at records to compare. Unlike last year, this year’s Suns have been relatively healthy, and since sinking to 12-14 after a mid-December loss to Milwaukee, have reeled off a pretty good stretch of basketball.

Which is why when asked to compare the situations, Suns GM Ryan McDonough said this year’s team gets the edge in terms of having a roster that is better built to reach the postseason.

“Yes, we do,” he said. “I feel like we have a better team — that’s the more important thing. I don’t worry as much about the standings as how we’re playing and how we’re competing.”

McDonough pointed to the team’s recent slate of games, which featured good wins over the Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls as well as close losses to the Houston Rockets and Memphis Grizzlies as evidence this year’s Suns are in a good spot.

“The good news is we’re right there with those teams,” McDonough added about anyone who has beaten them recently. “There’s nobody that we play now that I feel like we’re overmatched against or go into thinking ‘how the heck are we going to beat this team?'”

If nothing else, if the playoffs started today, the Suns would be invited as the 8th seed in the Western Conference. They are currently three games behind seventh-place San Antonio and one game ahead of ninth-place New Orleans. They lead 10th-place Oklahoma City by three games.

McDonough said he believes his team, as currently constructed, is good enough to make the playoffs.

“The schedule’s difficult the rest of the way, but you know it is for a majority of teams in the Western Conference,” he said. “So we’ll see how it goes. I was a little disappointed — we were all a little disappointed with the start when we were 12-14 and went through that bad stretch with six losses in a row.

“Since then I think we’re 16-8, we’re playing a lot better overall, and for the most part we’re right there in every game. Obviously the next step will be closing out these tight games and winning the games we should win. That’s the difference between kind of where we are now as a pretty good team and potentially being a very good team down the road.”

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